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His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Disappearance festival of Srila Govinda Maharaj
Siliguri, 24 April 2021, part 3
Translated from Bengali

 

Every time Gurudev started out from Kolkata to Nabadwip, he would call me—he did not tell anyone that he was coming to Nabadwip but he would call me and tell he was coming. He would instruct me, "I am coming to Nabadwip, do not tell anybody," and I told only one-two persons secretly so that they cleaned Gurudev's room a little bit. Then, when Gurudev was in Krishnanagar (he always used that road because there was no road through Kalna at that time), he would call me again and say, "I am in Krishnanagar." Then we would be ready to start kirtan and give Gurudev a welcome, do some sankirtan. When Gurudev arrived, we would go up to Gurudev's room, do the arati, etc.

I knew what Gurudev liked to eat, and I would go to the market the day before his arrival, buy everything and have it kept in his kitchen—I knew that when Gurudev came, his servant would start cooking for Gurudev. Gurudev always left Kolkata early in the morning and arrive in Nabadwip at about nine o'clock. So, I would go to the market the day before and keep everything ready in Gurudev's room. Gurudev liked chamarmani rice. It is a very nice kind of rice. Gurudev could not eat atop chal—it caused problem in his stomach, but he liked chamarmani parboiled rice. He also ate begun bhaja (fried aubergine, but the aubergine had to be without seeds). He also liked very hot aloo siddho (boiled potato) with two-four overfried chillis. Sometimes, he also took split chickpea dal or moong dal, and some subji. He did not like to have too many items. You know that he had blood sugar, but he would still sometimes ask for some ice-cream. He liked ThumbsUp, and he also liked mango. Mango has a lot of sugar, but he did not care—even if his sugar was high, he still ate mango. Later, he stopped eating potato so much, but he liked aloo posto a lot.

I was always alert towards Gurudev—I know everything, what he likes, what he eats, etc.

You can see the Deities here in Siliguri. These Deities were chosen by Gurudev himself. One day, Gurudev told me, "Come, we will go out." We went to the man who makes Deities, and Gurudev showed me these Deities saying he had them made a long time ago. There was a flood in 2000, but the Deities were not damaged, so Gurudev said they were of a very good quality. Gurudev asked me, "Do you like these Deities?" I said, "I do." And Gurudev told me to take the Deities. We made the order, the Deities only had to be painted, and the man who made the Deities said he would send them to the temple in a few days. Initially, Gurudev said he wanted to send them to Malaysia, but it did not happen, and then a temple was made here in Siliguri, and I installed these Deities here. So, Gurudev himself liked and chose these Deities of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar. Gurudev himself gave this name.

This temple here in Siliguri was started when Gurudev was abroad, in America. I came here for a festival arranged by Devananda Gaudiya Math, and the devotees liked me a lot, so I called Gurudev and asked if I could make a temple here. Gurudev said he was very sick and was going for an operation, but if I wanted to make a temple in Siliguri, I could do it. He gave me permission. Later, he saw the domes of the temple. Gurudev asked me at that time if the foundation of the building was strong enough, and by the mercy of the Lord there is no problem to this day. Gurudev could not come here himself because of one man, you know it. Gurudev wanted to come here when it was very hot in Kolkata, but one man, although he was Gurudev's disciple, betrayed Gurudev. Gurudev was very upset. He said, "If somebody takes initiation from me and behaves likes this after that, I will not go there." He was angry and did not come. How is it possible for a disciple to cheat his Guru like this? It is unimaginable. That is why Gurudev called him a blood-sucking mosquito. Gurudev said, "My disciple sucks my blood just the way a mosquito sucks human blood." I often remember these hard words of Gurudev. When somebody loses Gurudev's mercy, they become great offenders. You have heard Ramachandra Puri's story—he first made an offence to Vaishnavs, then he made an offence to his Guru, and in the end he made an offence to the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, after that he was forced to leave Jagannath Puri, and nobody knows where he went after that.

Gurudev always liked trees and cows. He never allowed to cut any trees. One time, some worker lady gathered dry leaves and was burning them at the bottom of a tree. Gurudev saw it and said to her, "What are you doing? The tree feels pain from the heat! You are making the tree suffer so much, and the Lord will give you the same suffering for this." He also never allowed to sell a single cow from the goshala. Gurudev said, "If you sell a cow, some Muslim man will buy and eat it, and you will suffer the reaction for this. Do not do this." He also did not allow to sell fish from the pond. Now that we had to leave Nabadwip, they have sold all cows, they have sold all fish, they have cut so many trees and sold them. This is all an offence. When I made the construction, I made it very well, you cannot take a single brick out of the walls, otherwise they would take bricks out and sell them too. They sold the fans, the fridge, they sold Gurudev's television. This is what is going on there. And this is all not my problem—they are doing this, and they are the ones who are plunging into trouble for this...

 

— : • : —

 

 

 

 

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Akrodha Paramananda Nityananda Raya
'The anger-less, prideless, supremely joyful Nityananda Ray wanders throughout the towns. Going from door to door to the homes of the lowly and fallen souls, He distributes the Hare Krishna mahamantra.'

 

Namo namah tulasi maharani
'O fortunate Tulasi, by your performance of austerity you have become Sri Salagram's worshippable consort.'
নমো নমঃ তুলসী মহারাণি

What are we making the Janmastami festival for? To show ourselves and our big ego? No,
we are making this festival to give much nourishment to the devotees through Hari-katha.

HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE | HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE